Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Acquired by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 18.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,650 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,494 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $2,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AYI. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 366.2% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 345,628 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $83,430,000 after buying an additional 271,485 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 187.8% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 330,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $79,755,000 after buying an additional 215,547 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 35.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 407,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $98,306,000 after buying an additional 107,171 shares during the period. Vision One Management Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $21,901,000. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $25,188,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Acuity Brands Stock Performance

Shares of AYI opened at $298.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market cap of $9.17 billion, a PE ratio of 24.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $254.09. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.84 and a 12-month high of $303.04.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 14.26 EPS for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AYI. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Acuity Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch.